Walking the River Walk expansion

Our tour of the soon-to-be-unveiled Museum Reach stretch of the River Walk expansion started strangely enough. As we were waiting for our guide at the Lexington Street Bridge next to the El Tropicano Hotel, there was a shirtless man, chest covered in old tattoos, washing his shirt in the San Antonio River. He had a lady friend and was enjoying a tallboy  couldn't make the brand as the can was snug in one of those brown paper bags it seems are produced just for beer cans.

That man was the start of a recurring theme that was chronicled in this Express-News article  "Visions of revitalization meet reality"  not so much of the less fortunate, but of the glaring contrast between, on one level, the brand new River Walk and above it the industrial, raggedy street life. It's not all industrial and raggedy  the VFW Post 76 and the San Antonio Museum of Art certainly aren't  but a good portion of the stretch is.

So then the question must be asked of plans to revitalize the street level (or River North): What stays and what goes?

Before I get to that, I want to describe what they've done with this new River Walk.

The Museum Reach looks amazing. They did a bang up job. Everything from the architecture to the landscaping to the art  it really is something locals can enjoy. This River Walk is a throwback to the pre-chain restaurants, pre-nightclubs and pre-all things touristy River Walk. Though they connect, they really are two River Walks.

The touristy River Walk is technically a park which is why park police are about and why you can carry around plastic cups of beer. But it's not really a park, is it?

The Museum Reach feels like a park with its lush grass and variety of flower beds. It's made simply for enjoying. Nobody's asking for an exchange of money for bad Mexican food or souvenirs. It even has these cool little signs, as one colleague pointed out, generously placed throughout, because its easy to get disoriented from the river level perspective  familiar streets and bridges look different.

Within the Museum Reach, there are distinct areas. There's a marsh, wetlands habitat (left), where, just before it, the path breaks into two paths to encircle the small habitat before reconnecting and continuing on. The San Antonio Museum of Art area certainly has its own feel: the River Walk seemingly sinks lower from street level there. Under the highway, I was awestruck, those long support columns beaming down, Donald Lipski's school of long-eared sunfish spectacularly hanging from the bridge, wiggling a little  almost like they're swimming  with the breeze.

Much of the artwork is only visible at night. Martin Richman's Lexington Street Bridge installation is one of them. They are Plexiglas light chimes, or blades, that reflect and refract light and when lit the light bounces off the water to create this brilliant blue beam. Or at least that's what it looked like in a photo that our guide, Anish Joseph, showed the group.

It wasn't planned, but a good majority of the art "works better at night," Joseph said. For me, that brings up the safety question.

When the big, two-day celebration concludes not this weekend but next, just how safe will the Museum Reach be at night? Parks are open to the public 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to city ordinance. I wonder if that will apply to the Museum Reach. One colleague in the office wondered how long it will be before the first mugging occurs inside Carlos Cortés' grotto. Not to sound criminal, but Camden Street seems like a good getaway route.

On Broadway, next to the underpass, there's the shell of a building whose ownership and present state remain shady to me (I believe it's owned by Ed Cross) and which has been an eyesore for years. It's fenced up, but it doesn't keep the homeless away. The structure also sits just a few feet from the Museum Reach. Next to the structure is a trailer park. From the street, there are brand new steps (shown in the photo above) to lead people from the street to the River Walk. A small waterfall scene connects the street with the River Walk. It's hard for your eye to not shift from the serene waterscape to the trailer park to the eyesore of a building in amazement at the contrast. And I'll just say this: A couple of years ago, when shooting a short for a 48 hour film festival on that street, we were solicited drugs by a man in a beat-up Oldsmobile Cutlass.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is across the river from a hanger-like building and a trailer park.

Some of the gaudiness should remain. That trailer park, for example, should stay put. Across from the trailer park is the San Antonio Museum of Art and the two create this dichotomy of flourishing and struggling, immaculate and rough on the edges, rich and poor. It's almost an art installation unto its own. The hollow hanger-like building next to the trailer park is magnificent. I want the residents of the park to throw an all-day, all-night party during the city's on May 30-31.

The live music club 1011 (shown above) is another riverside establishment that should stay put. During yesterday's tour, they were constructing what appeared to be a stage or patio. Joseph said someone from the club called and wanted to know when the barges were going by so they could plan for a barbecue of their own or perhaps live music. I love that this multi-million dollar city project unfolded in their back yard and in the back yards of other establishments like the VFW Post 76, which gorgeously connects to the River Walk with its own pathway and lush grass in between.

Others will have to change or go. How that's going to happen is another blog all together.

Wildlife  this bird enjoying the Hugman Dam  doesn't have to wait for the grand opening.

Derek, sorry for the delay... There's no bike lanes on the street level that I can tell. There's no real synched up, parallel paths in terms of river level and street. It's the path along the river and then the various properties border the landscaping just like in that photo of the 1011 club, where the grass meets the patio-in-the-making.

Does anyone know if pets will be allowed on the trails? Also what about biking on the trails? I recently moved downtown and I bike some evenings and walk the others and i would loved to bring my dog along with me if permitted?

JP, we all have our opinions and I don't want to elaborate on the safety thing simply because the thing isn't open yet. I'm gonna walk the expansion at 10 p.m. on June 1st, the Monday after the opening celebration, and I'll see for myself what its like.

I will comment on one thing you wrote. On the stubborn old guy that refused to sell his property: good for him.

I'd hesitate to call the man who owns a trailer home & "that hanger thing," across from SAMA a "trailer park." One stubborn old guy(and one trailer) does not constitute a park. He was reportedly offered a nice chunk of change..and refused.

I'm also not quite sure how you get off being so scared of that grotto, its so incredibly close to the new police substation (looks like an ugly bunker across from the grotto on the other side of the bridge)there is no WAY once it opens that SA's finest bike patrol will even think about letting someone get mugged there..and its just darn FUN to be in.
Safety on the whole is a lot better in those areas than you give credit, I ride my bike transitionally between the different parts of the city and downtown quite frequently and most often, late at night. I ride unarmed and travel down quiet side streets, often passing near the abandoned Cross bldg development on Ave B, or riding to my office on S. Flores, and cutting through the entirety of downtown and on into the southside. I have never had an issue with safety aside from one or two catcalls from gay cowboys driving home who have had a little much to drink.

I feel it is important to bring these issues up, because it seems this is the attitude that permeates and often holds back our city. In the wake of this positive development for us, we should re-examine our attitudes and preconceived notions about these places and possibly, taking into consideration the misplaced homeless, take a new look at an old space we have been neglecting for some time.

(not fair to just touch on this, but the homes that were built into the riverbanks in these "new" areas were AMAZING. If I could find old photos of those... The most amazing was the kitchen and 4 poster bed made of stacked rocks underneath the bridge by SAMA)

1. Wow, they are amazing at night. It's a surreal scene. It's borderline emotional -- that's how cool they are at night.

2. Sometimes I just kind of write these blogs and I don't know what I'm saying, but MAN I really wouldn't walk the expansion at night, especially the grotto. I mean, there's some scary little pockets in that maze of an area on the street level.

Other observations:

Avenue B at 10th street is such a cool little stretch. Tonight the VFW, 1011 and Rock Bottom were open. Those three are gonna rock the river hopefully for years and years.

And to RBearSAT, Turner Bowling alley looked like it was hopping. I want to bowl there so bad!!!

ben o you did a great job chronicling this. There is so much contrast that is present right now, and that's the key point - right now, on the expansion that it would be good to capture it before the bulldozers come in. For example, Turner Bowling is one of those businesses that may or may not survive. 1011 I think will sustain and create a new flavor on the river. VFW 76 has always been a cool place to hang during Fiesta. It just got a whole lot cooler.

The downtown area is changing and I'm excited to be jumping into it in a couple of months.

BTW, your pics are great as are those I've seen from Ken Slavin and Brad Shaw. All run of the mill photogs but it's hard not to shoot good stuff when the subject matter is so incredible.